Mother-son duo from Brunswick House First Nation plan to transform old clothes into insulation

A mother and son duo from Brunswick House First Nation in northeastern Ontario are collecting people's old socks, and other garments that can't be reused, to make insulation.

Jerret Paquette, and his mom Doris Mitchell founded Sic Sox to give old clothes a new life.

Paquette said it was his mom who came up with the idea.

"She came to me and said that she wants to figure out a solution for all of the fabric and textiles that's ending up in the landfills and stuff," he said.

They learned that clothing can be shredded and can be transformed into a blow-in insulation for people's attics.

Paquette and Mitchell have partnered with researchers to test different types of insulation with the shredded textiles they collect.

"Once we have a tested product, we'll start production," Paquette said.

To collect old clothes they've set up colourful donation bins in the nearby town of Chapleau, as well communities across northern Ontario, including in North Bay, Cobalt, Wawa and Thunder Bay.

"We're just looking to make sure that we have bins available to all of the residents from Thunder Bay to North Bay and everything in between," Paquette said.

Clothing that can still be worn will be sold in a thrift store, Paquette said, but everything else, including old socks with holes or rips in them, will be set aside for insulation.

To get the project started they received a federal grant for Indigenous innovators, and also have support from Brunswick House First Nation, which owns 10 per cent of the company.

To measure the project's community impact, Sic Sox has partnered with Confederation College in Thunder Bay and Canadore College in North Bay.

"We are very much trying to be conscious of the future," Paquette said.

"We're talking about climate change and everything so much these days and we're looking at different practices that we can use to recycle all of these fabrics and stuff."